The present invention relates to a coaxial connector for mounting on a circuit board, especially a coaxial connector having a switch, which has a switching mechanism to switch a high-frequency signal circuit.
In a portable communication device, such as a cellular phone, a coaxial connector having a switch is widely used for checking a high-frequency circuit. As a conventional coaxial connector having a switch, for example, the applicant of this patent application disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-123915.
The conventional coaxial connector 21A disclosed in the aforementioned patent publication is illustrated in FIGS. 21–23. FIG. 21 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the center line of the conventional connector 21A, which is illustrated with a coaxial plug that can be used for turning on/off the switch, FIG. 22 is a front perspective view of the conventional connector 21A, and FIG. 23 is a backside perspective view of the conventional connector 21A.
As shown in FIG. 21, the coaxial plug 26A can be attached/detached to/from the conventional connector 21A from the upper side of the connector 21A. The coaxial plug 26A includes an insulated housing 27A having a generally cylindrical shape, an outer conductor 28A that covers the insulated housing 27A, and center conductor 29A, which is provided along the center axis of the insulated housing 27A. The outer conductor 28A and the center conductor 29A protrude below the insulated housing 27A, and can be elastically displaced upward.
On the other hand, the conventional connector 21A includes an insulated housing 22A having a hole 35A to receive the center conductor 29A of the coaxial plug 26A, an outer conductor 23A provided outside of the insulated housing 22A, a stationary terminal 24A and a movable terminal 25A, which are provided below the hole 35A. Furthermore, the stationary terminal 24A has a contact section 40A, and the movable terminal 25A has a securing section 42A secured to the insulated housing 22A and an elastic section 44A that can touch the center conductor 29A of the coaxial plug 26A and can contact with the contact section 40A.
In this conventional connector 21A, when the coaxial plug 26A is not attached as shown in the solid line in FIG. 21A, the movable terminal 25A presses the contact section 41A of the stationary terminal 24A by an elastic force of the elastic section 44A, and the stationary terminal 24A and the movable terminal 25A maintain the electrical connection.
On the other hand, in the conventional connector 21A, when the coaxial plug 26A is attached as shown with the imaginary line (the dashed-two dotted line) in FIG. 21, the lower edge 33A of the outer conductor 28A fits into the annular groove 32A of the outer conductor 23A, and the lower end of the center conductor 29A is inserted to the vertical hole 35A. At this time, if the coaxial plug 26A is pressed down, the outer conductor 28A is compressed against the elastic force, and the center conductor 29A protrudes below the outer conductor 28A, and contacts with the elastic section 44A at a specified contacting position. At this time, since the elastic force of the center conductor 29A is stronger than that of the elastic section 44A, as shown with the imaginary line in FIG. 21, the elastic section 44A is pressed down by the center conductor 29A and elastically deformed, and moves away from the contact section 40A. The stationary terminal 24A and the movable terminal 25A are electrically disconnected, and at the same time, the center conductor 29A and the movable terminal 25A are connected. Accordingly, the high-frequency circuit can be checked by transmitting the signals, which are originally transmitted from the movable terminal 25A to the stationary terminal 24, from the movable terminal 25A to the center conductor 29A.
In the above-described conventional connector 21, even after the movable terminal 25A and the stationary terminal 24 are mounted in the insulated housing 22A, since the hole 51A to insert the movable terminal 25A, especially its elastic section 44A, into the insulated housing 22A and the hole 80A to insert the stationary terminal 24A to the insulated housing 22A are kept open, an alien substance can get in the product therefrom, and may adversely affect the contact between the signal terminals.